Archives

Archives

Categories

Categories

This is Me

I know there are plenty of people out there in the world who just love musicals – as I do. I love old and new. Every now and then one comes along with a message that seems to speak to one particular group of individuals and I strongly feel that the movie musical The Greatest Showman (Dec. 20th) does just that. It takes inspiration from the life of P. T. Barnum, one of the early pioneers of circuses in the 1800s. In reality, Barnum began his journey as a circus owner, late in life, probably fifties or sixties, but he did reach out to people who looked different from “normal” society: the midget, the bearded lady, the Siamese twins, and gave them a real place in the world. Today, I have found most of the soundtrack released on YouTube by Atlantic Records. If you’re a musical buff, the songs were written by Paul & Pasek of La La Land fame and, in fact, were working on the songs for this film before La La Land.

One of the songs that’s stuck out to me is one that is typically played during the first trailer that was released, This is Me. It is performed by Keala Settle who plays the Bearded Lady. These are some of the lyrics to that beautiful song that speak to me:

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am proof
I am who I’m meant to be, this is me
Look out ’cause here I come
And I’m marching on to the beat I drum
I’m not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me